Close Close
Popular Financial Topics Discover relevant content from across the suite of ALM legal publications From the Industry More content from ThinkAdvisor and select sponsors Investment Advisor Issue Gallery Read digital editions of Investment Advisor Magazine Tax Facts Get clear, current, and reliable answers to pressing tax questions
Luminaries Awards
ThinkAdvisor

Retirement Planning > Retirement Investing

Take this job and love it

X
Your article was successfully shared with the contacts you provided.

When thinking of work, the majority of us conjure stress, office politics, endless meetings, obnoxious co-workers. Surprise — it could all be good for you.

As baby boomers reach retirement age, more are opting to continue to work, whether for economic reasons, or because they simply like to work. That employment can provide more than a paycheck — working, it seems, has pretty good mental and physical health benefits as well. So writes Jeannine Stein in the Los Angeles Times.

A new study in this month’s issue of the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology examined data on 12,189 retirees from the Health and Retirement Study, sponsored by the National Institute on Aging. The first four waves of the study (1992, 1994, 1996 and 1998) were included, in which people age 51 to 61 were surveyed about their health, finances, employment history and current work or retirement.

The researchers coined the term “bridge employment” to describe the transition period between full-time work and full-time retirement, in which people work part-time, are self-employed or temporarily employed, Stein writes.

“Men and women in that bridge employment category reported fewer major diseases and functional limitations compared with those who were in full retirement. Mental health was better as well, but only for those who kept working in their previous careers. Those who chose a different career path didn’t show the same benefits. Choosing another career, the authors believe, could prove stressful while people adjust to new roles and a new workplace. Also, some who choose new jobs do so out of financial need, which may add additional stress.

“In the study, the authors wrote: ‘when the retirees engage in bridge employment, they are likely to keep their levels of physical activities and mental activities through daily work. In addition, working after retirement increases retirees’ role embeddedness, which has been shown to benefit health maintenance.

“Going into full retirement, they add, could lead to less social contact and fewer daily activities, perhaps making them less likely to fight off major diseases and more likely to see a decrease in daily function.”


NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.